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This is a loving invitation to join our little Jesus Caritas Lay Fraternity group here in West Roxbury for one or two of our monthly meetings. We are inviting people like yourself who might be interested in starting a group like this one.
We have the group every 2nd and 4th Tuesday here at Fr. Lennie's house. We have adoration from 7pm to 8pm and scripture sharing from 8pm to 9:15pm. We would be happy if you could make it.
Feel free to bring anyone you might think would be interested. We want to share this little community ideal
with others who feel called to something more in their lives. There is NO commitment in visiting for one or both nights. If you can make it, or are interested and unable to make it, will you please e-mail Ann Rugnetta and let her know.
A description of who we are follows. Thanks for your interest in us.
Fr. Lennie Tighe, Chaplain
Ann Rugnetta: ANNRUG43@aol.com
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The Jesus Caritas Community of Boston
There was a Jesus Caritas fraternity in Boston's inner city from 1958 through 1979. We formed around the remnants of that community in 1983. We are a lay community following the spirituality of Brother Charles of Jesus. We came together after some of us returned from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Fr. Lennie Tighe had often spoken about Brother Charles, and the lay fraternity he had belonged to before entering the seminary. The more we came to know about the spirituality of Charles de Foucauld, the more the group was drawn to it. At the time we consisted of 12 members, one of whom had been in the earlier Boston community with Fr. Tighe and they both had much to share with us. Over the years two members have moved away, two have died, and five people have joined us. We now number thirteen active members. There are some others we consider private members (membres isolees), and others who are part of our extended family.
There was a Jesus Caritas fraternity in Boston's inner city from 1958 through 1979. We formed around the remnants of that community in 1983. We are a lay community following the spirituality of Brother Charles of Jesus. We came together after some of us returned from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Fr. Lennie Tighe had often spoken about Brother Charles, and the lay fraternity he had belonged to before entering the seminary. The more we came to know about the spirituality of Charles de Foucauld, the more the group was drawn to it. At the time we consisted of 12 members, one of whom had been in the earlier Boston community with Fr. Tighe and they both had much to share with us. Over the years two members have moved away, two have died, and five people have joined us. We now number thirteen active members. There are some others we consider private members (membres isolees), and others who are part of our extended family.
We have members who are mother, father, grandfather, grandmother, single, widowed, non-custodial father raising teenagers, full-time care givers of elderly parents. Some are retired, others employed full or part time; with talents such as iconographer, musician, archaeologist. We are involved as individuals in our local parishes as lectors, Eucharistic Ministers, choir members, and in hospitality ministry. We volunteer, mostly locally, in areas such as ombudsman at a nursing home, raise money to fight diseases like cancer, help the elderly manage their financial records, organize retreats and days of recollection, visit and/or provide transportation for the elderly, prison ministry and hospital pastoral visiting.
Some are "cradle" Catholics, others adult converts to Roman Catholicism. We are blessed with the presence of Fr. Lennie Tighe, a Diocesan Priest, and retired full time Hospital Chaplain who is a member of our community and also the spiritual guide for the North American communities. He has 40 years involvement with Jesus Caritas Fraternities and belongs to a local priest fraternity as well.
Who are we as Community
For twenty years we were involved together with Fr. Lennie in his work at a public health hospital. This hospital has one of the first AIDS Units in Boston, as well as a prison unit. It also accommodates geriatric, psychiatric, TB, detox, and other chronic conditions, and is connected to a homeless shelter. We joined with the clients and their families, the staff, and visitors, in Sunday Mass, and in special liturgical celebrations and other programs. Some of us visited patients with a refreshment cart; some were Eucharistic Ministers, Lectors or Music Ministers. After Sunday Mass, we served and shared in coffee and refreshments and had an open Scripture sharing group. These opportunities to worship and break bread with people of many different cultures, religious beliefs, ethnicity, and states of health was our "formation" as a Jesus Caritas community. This shared experience and mutual involvement brought us together around the Eucharist with marginalized people and caused us to share a common vision and spirituality.
We meet twice monthly. On the second Tuesday of the month we have Adoration for one hour then share on a Gospel. On the fourth Tuesday we have Adoration for one hour followed by Review of Life. We try to live the Spirituality of Brother Charles whether we are working in an office, school, or nursing facility; or with our families, neighbors and each other. In addition to our twice-monthly meetings we have a yearly Retreat and Day of Prayer together, as well as coming together for weekend Mass and breakfast gatherings as schedules allow.
We are engaged in working toward improving our practice of Review of Life in a new, more focused way. We continue to build trust of each other as well as increasing our understanding of the process. Fr Lennie shares his Priest Fraternity experience as a model and encourages as well as participates with us.
Hospitality is a big part of who we are. Members open their homes for gatherings that include the larger community and our extended families, such as summer cookouts and winter holiday parties. We spend time together and support each other socially, sharing in family occasions such as weddings, baptisms, and of course funerals. Informal extensions of our community time such as weekend breakfast gatherings, and weekday luncheons and suppers, are common.
While we have always considered ourselves a community formed in the spirit of Br. Charles, and have been from the beginning connected to the Little Sisters of Jesus and Mary in Maryland through our spiritual guide, we did not formally connect with the other North American communities until 2002. That was the year we attended the annual gathering of the US Jesus Caritas communities for the first time, and have been grateful and blessed to be connected in a new way to the worldwide family of Brother Charles. The International Bulletins and emails from the International Team, as well as the support of the other North American communities, have helped and encouraged us in this new growth.
For us, the life at Nazareth is not about who we are or what we do but about where and how we live it. It is about living LOVE where we are. It is in Community, the freely chosen family of brothers and sisters in the Lord, where we live and grow and are encouraged and enabled to live the Gospel message in the world where we are. The challenge of Br. Charles to meet God in the persons we interact with in our daily life is our encouragement and the vehicle by which we will improve.
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